County of building: Saint Charles County
Location of structure: Jefferson St., 4th house E of Kingsighway St., N side, St. Charles
Built: 1882
Architect/Builder: Unknown
Architectural Style: Colonial Revival
Original Occupant: Haenssler Family
Map
"306. 1052 Jefferson Street; Colonial Revival influence; circa 1882; Contributing
Facing south, this 2-story frame I-house has a medium-pitched, side-gabled roof with centered front gable. The 5-bay façade has a central half-glazed Queen Anne style wood door with colored lights around the perimeter of the glass panel and ornate applied moldings. To each side of the door is a 3-light sidelight with a wood skirt and above each sidelight is a single-light transom while the door is topped by a 2-light transom. The 1-bay portico has a wood deck, Doric columns and engaged columns, and a high hip roof with wide overhanging eaves and a full entablature. In the other 4 bays of the first floor are 2/2 wood windows. Directly above the portico is a small 2/2 wood window and in the other bays of the second floor are 1/1 windows (a 1996 photograph shows that the second floor had 2-light windows.)
a. Summer Kitchen; circa 1882; Contributing
Behind the house is a 1-story gabled outbuilding that appears to have been a kitchen. It has a brick foundation, board-and-batten walls, and a front-gabled roof with a central straddle ridge brick chimney.
On the front (south) wall is a 6/6 wood window and a paneled metal door and the side elevations each have two 6/6 wood windows. This building appears to be contemporary with the house." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
"Built: 1885 ccirca
Style/Design: Colonial Revival influence/I-house; centered front gable
Although the County’s tax parcels database gives the date of construction as 1900, this house was built between 1873, when
O’Rear’s Subdivision was platted, and 1891. The directories show that the home was owned by Reinhardt C. and Sophia Haenssler from 1891 through 1917. Mr. Haenssler was a lawyer and Secretary of the St. Charles Building and Loan Association and also sold insurance. In the 1916-17 directory the name of his law firm was given as R.C. Haenssler & Son. By 1918 his son Osmund owned the house. He was also a lawyer and Secretary of the St. Charles Building and Loan Association, as well as the city attorney, and in 1939 he also served as the President of the Board of Public Works. The directories do not list a wife for him until 1934, when the wife’s name was given as Effie, but later directories give her name as Evelyn. By 1950 Evelyn was widowed, but she continued to live in the house through 1952. From 1955 through 1959 the homeowner was Elbert Haenssler, and he was a teacher at Ferguson, Missouri. By 1961, when research ended, the house was occupied by Josephine Brueckl, but the city directory indicates that she did not own the property. In fact, the Haenssler family still owns the property (the current owner is the Elbert Haenssler Revocable Living Trust).
"Facing south, this two-story, frame I-house has a medium-pitched, side-gabled roof with centered front gable. A 1996 photograph in the City’s records shows the house with very wide aluminum siding, but this has been replaced with vinyl siding having a narrower exposure, which probably more closely resembles the width of the original siding. The main façade is a five-bay elevation, with a central half-glazed, Queen Anne, wood door that has colored lights around the perimeter of the glass panel and ornate applied moldings. To each side of the door is a three light sidelight with a wood skirt and above each sidelight is a single-light transom while the door is topped by a two-light transom. The door opens onto a one-bay portico that has a wood deck and Tuscan columns and engaged columns supporting the high hip roof with wide overhanging eaves and a full entablature. In the
other four bays of the first floor are 2/2 wood windows. Directly above the portico is a small 2/2 wood window, and in the other bays of the second floor are 1/1 windows that are not original. The 1996 photograph shows that at that time the four openings in the outer bays of the second floor held two-light windows. The east elevation has one 2/2 wood window on each floor, and in the rear ell are four 2/2 wood windows. The west elevation also has one 2/2 wood window on each floor, and in the rear one-story hipped wing on the west half of the building is another 2/2 window. This wing is shown as enclosed on the 1929 Sanborn map, which is the first Sanborn map to show this western end of Jefferson Street; however, it is possible that it was originally an open porch. A small addition is situated within the L of the rear elevation, giving the house an irregular footprint.
"This house is situated on a slightly elevated lot that has a public sidewalk along the front lot line and an alley along the rear. A
concrete sidewalk with a stair having three steps leads to the portico, where it then turns west to wrap around the west elevation
to lead to the rear yard. Shrubs are planted to each side of the sidewalk and along the front of the house, and three small trees are in the front yard. Behind the house is a one-story, gabled outbuilding that may have been a kitchen. It has a brick foundation, board-and-batten walls, and a front-gabled roof pierced by a central, straddle ridge, brick chimney. On the front (south) wall is a 6/6 wood window and a paneled metal door, the side elevations each have two 6/6 wood windows, and the rear elevation has no openings. The windows have shutter hardware but no shutters. This building appears to be contemporary with the house and is contributing. A brick sidewalk leads from the back of the house toward the rear of the lot, probably extending to the site of a garage that is no longer extant but is shown on the Sanborn maps. The rear yard is partially enclosed by a wood picket fence." ~ St. Charles Historic Survey Phase II, PDF pages 238-241